


Wild at Heart

by VintageJacqui



Category: Nagron - Fandom, Spartacus Series (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-23
Updated: 2013-11-26
Packaged: 2017-12-06 06:26:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/732462
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VintageJacqui/pseuds/VintageJacqui
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on a prompt from jenjem97 - A Nagron fic based on the tv show 'Wild at Heart'</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [these-ships-sail (jenjem97)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=these-ships-sail+%28jenjem97%29).



> Apologies to jenjem97 - I never actually watched the show so I really hope this is the type of fic you were hoping for :)
> 
> Also, although I love animals and read about them/watch tv shows etc I am making everything up in this fic. I know nothing about what goes on in a wildlife reserve! :D

The phone had been ringing off and on for over an hour now. Lucretia Batiatus sighed and ran a perfectly manicured hand over her forehead. She was going to kill Nasir.

_“Don’t answer the phone if it’s Mara. I don’t want to hear it.”_

Nasir’s words were ringing in her head in time with the shrill ringing of the phone. This was just ridiculous.

She reached over her stack of paperwork and documents and grabbed the receiver.

“Leopard’s Den wildlife reserve and medical centre,” she said, putting on a pleasant tone. “Agron, oh yes, we have been a bit busy and… what? Nasir is with the new cubs at the minute, can I take a message?”

Lucretia listened to what Agron was saying and rolled her eyes. Nasir was so stubborn when it came to the ‘rival’ wildlife reserve and wouldn’t accept any help or advice offered by its manager, who was still jabbering down the phone. Lucretia had heard it all before and try as he might to get Nasir to see eye to eye with him it seemed that Agron was fighting a losing battle.

“I’ll see if I can find him and pass on the message.” Lucretia nodded to whatever Agron was saying, said a quick goodbye and put the phone down.

Agron was nothing like his father had been and yet Nasir believed the man to be false, with plans to somehow take over their sanctuary. He wasn’t alone in his thoughts. Most of the staff at Leopard’s Den felt the same towards the German and his workers, but Lucretia had the feeling that it was Nasir’s father who had poisoned his son’s mind. It wasn’t that Nasir hated Agron, not at all; in fact Nasir couldn’t hate anyone if he tried, but the thing was… he was afraid.

When Nasir’s father passed away, he had been thrown in the deep end of running Leopard’s Den and it was something he had struggled with and worked his fingers to the bone to make a success. He was the youngest member of the team, but he commanded respect and was admired by them all for what he had managed to achieve in the few short years since his father’s passing.

So, Lucretia understood Nasir’s reluctance to accept help or anything else from the team from Mara. He didn’t want to be seen as a failure. His father was haunting him, keeping Nasir under his thumb even now and he was blind to see that in the end it was going to hurt the sanctuary and the people who had given up their lives to work there.

“Crixus, is Nasir out here?” Lucretia held a hand up to shield her eyes from the searing African sun. She stepped out of the main reception, a large structure with heat baked cream walls and columns that let the cool air circulate through the spacious rooms inside. The roof was a dark thatch that absorbed the worst of the sun and kept the hub of the sanctuary a pleasant place to work.

“He’s in quarantine with the cubs, won’t be done for another hour or so, you know how he is with new arrivals.” Crixus hauled a bag of bark chips onto one shoulder and walked down the path towards the large archway that stood over the road where cars made their way into the reserve. A big open day was planned in five days’ time and Nasir had allocated a large portion of their budget on repairs and a revamp of the place. Plants and trees had been planted, fences painted and fixed and Nasir had been up some ladders for hours repainting the sign that welcomed visitors.

Crixus’ wife Naevia appeared from where her husband had just been and smiled at Lucretia who was watching Crixus tip out the last of the bark into the landscaped grounds.

“Agron, again?” Naevia sighed and squeezed Lucretia’s shoulder. “I heard the phone ringing and, well, who else would it be?”

“Oh, but you left me to answer the damn thing,” Lucretia laughed. “I’ll remember that. I suppose I had better tell Nasir he called again. He heard from Ekwueme…”

“The new ranger?”

“Yeah, he mentioned the trouble we had with the cubs to Agron and he wants to help. He specialises in rehab and with the trauma they went through, raising them is going to be hard enough for us let alone releasing them.”

“You sound like you want Agron’s help?” Naevia frowned and took a step away, but it was a curious surprise on her face instead of something indignant or accusing.

“Is that such a bad thing? He’s running Mara better than… better than it’s ever been run and he is bringing new techniques to the table that are working. You know he has successfully released more cheetahs in the last year than his father did in five. Agron has ideas and yes I do think that _we_ could use what he has to offer. I just have to get Nasir to see it.”

Naevia paused and glanced at her husband. They had all left their homes, loved ones and creature comforts behind to help their friend and do what they could for the reserve. It had become their home and Naevia knew that all of them would fight tooth and nail for its continued success. If that meant sleeping with the enemy, as it were, then maybe it was time for Leopard’s Den to change its attitude and let go of their fear.

“You want me to come with you? There is only so much foot stamping a girl can take by herself.” Naevia chuckled. “Explain it to him like you just did to me. He loves this place, we all know he does, but he just… he doesn’t want anyone to take it away. He’s scared that Agron will want to take over.”

“I know, I thought that was why Agron had been badgering us for so long, but now… oh, I don’t know Nae. If Agron can help us with the cubs,” she sighed, “I’m just going to tell him what I think and he will do what’s best. He’s the boss.”

Lucretia shook her head and smirked before moving around Naevia to find Nasir in the quarantine pens.

This was going to be a breeze.

~~~

“Any luck this time?”

Agron looked up from his computer screen with a scowl. Spartacus raised an eyebrow at his friend and patted him on the back before leaving the man in peace to brood.

It was fucking ridiculous. Nasir had gotten it into his head that Agron was no better than a fucking mercenary who was hell bent on stealing his sanctuary from under his pretty little nose.

And it was pretty…

Agron slammed his laptop shut, a little harder than he should have, probably, and shook his head. Now really wasn’t the time to be thinking about Nasir like that.

He stood up and walked out of his office. He needed to vent and Spartacus was the perfect person for the job, but he had run off somewhere.

“Hey, Mira you seen Sparty? He was just here.” Agron walked over to her and crouched down to rest his head on her shoulder.

“He’s going to the market with Gannicus. What’s up kitten, why so blue?” Mira tweaked Agron’s nose between her fingers and he stood back up to his full height with a sigh.

“The same thing that’s always up. Goddamn Leopard’s Den, as always. You know they had a pair of cheetahs in a few days ago? Cubs, six or so months old and they were in a bad way too, malnourished and full of mange. Ekwueme said something about some sort of trauma before he was called back to the base so I just know there is something I can do over there, but he won’t have any of it. I’ve never met such a stubborn little dog. He hates me for no fucking reason and it… what? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Since when do you care what people think about you, huh? Nothing’s ever bothered you like this before.”

Mira perched on the edge of the reception desk and studied her friend closely. She and Agron had known each other since they were children and there was an unspoken agreement that they were as good as brother and sister. Mira worried about Agron a lot, his brother Duro had decided to travel the world instead of helping out at their family’s sanctuary and Agron missed him terribly. There was no bad feeling about Duro leaving, Agron was happy that his brother was happy, it was all he ever wanted, but it didn’t close the wound in his heart where Duro had always been.

“I care because I am being treated like a fucking villain and I don’t like it. Mira, you know I just want to help them don’t you? My dad and Nasir’s dad… we’re not them. I’m not anyway, I don’t really know about Nasir, but from what I can see he just wants his sanctuary to work. His dad put things in his head about my family and now he won’t even give me the chance to prove him wrong. Its… annoying.”

“You _know_ that I know you aren’t like that, silly goose. Agron, you would be the best thing that Nasir could ask for if he could just swallow his pride and accept your help, but he’s fixated on this idea that you, _we_ , are the bad guys.”

“What are you planning? I can hear the scheme in your voice. Out with it.”

Agron crossed his arms and smiled. He loved Mira and her eternal ability to make him feel better no matter what shit he was going through.

“I found this in with the post this morning.” Mira handed Agron a flyer and grinned. “I hope Nasir doesn’t find out or the mail man will have a tiny bundle of fury on his hands.”

Agron looked at the pale blue sheet of paper in his hands and read the contents of it. It was short, to the point, but had a feeling of excitement behind every word printed on the page.

“Leopard’s Den is having an open day,” Agron said as his eyes scanned the flyer again. “’ _On the 27th March, Leopard’s Den Wildlife Sanctuary and Reserve will open its doors to the public and give an inside look at how the hardworking staff work on a day to day basis_.’ So what? They are having an open day, I don’t get it?”

Mira tutted and kicked Agron in the shin.

“An open day, as in anyone can go and have a snoop around and no one can stop you because it’s an open day and it’s open to all and…”

“Yes, yes, okay I get it, jeez.”

“Just making sure you understood.” Mira laughed, making Agron smile affectionately. “So, are you going to go?”

“Fuck yes I’m going and not to snoop around either. I just want to go and not be chased off like a hyena. If Nasir has no choice but to see me then maybe I can get him to talk to me. Technically I will be just another member of the public so it’s not like he can kick me out or, oh gods he can’t kick me out, can he? Fuck the gods.”

Mira stood up from the desk and walked towards her friend.

“Just be careful alright,” she said, all the amusement gone from her voice. “I don’t want you to get invested in something that you can’t have. If this doesn’t work and Nasir turns you down again then you might have to accept defeat. I want this to work, you know we all do, but Nasir won’t give up so easily so just…”

“…be careful. I will,” Agron said, kissing the top of Mira’s head, “but I will never accept defeat.”

Mira sighed and elbowed Agron in the ribs before leaving him to think.

Five days. Just five days and Agron would have his chance to see Nasir face to face and hopefully get him to see what a stubborn little shit he was being and let him help the little man.

Yeah, piece of cake.

~~~

“The male might need x-rays on that leg if I don’t see any improvement in the next few days, but for now I just want to try them on the meds and regular feed.”

Lucretia watched Nasir speak to the vet and inhaled deeply. His passion for the animals here was unquestionable and she really didn’t want him to think she thought it _was_ in question.

“Hey, everything okay?” Nasir nodded his goodbye to the vet and stepped through the double doors of the quarantine cage into the corridor where Lucretia was hovering.

“How are they doing?” She looked into the bay where she could barely make out the two scrawny looking cats cowering in the corner. She had never seen cheetahs so traumatised in all her years working for Nasir’s family. They were something they hadn’t handled before and seeing them like that spurred her on to face Nasir.

“Not great.  Not yet anyway. If they survive the night it’ll be a miracle.” Nasir sighed; the strain of such a highly emotional and stressful case was taking its toll. Nasir felt strongly for every animal brought into the reserve, but when it was as severe as with the two cheetah cubs he took it even more to heart.

“Um, I hate to bring this up, especially if I’m going to get my head bitten off, but… Agron called again. He heard about the cubs and has offered his help. He’s had experience with this type of thing and…”

“No.” Nasir walked past Lucretia and out of the quarantine area into a large paddock at the rear of the buildings.

“Just no? Is that it? No?” Lucretia followed Nasir and tried to keep her voice calm, but it was difficult.

“Yep, just no. I don’t want or need his help and I thought I told you not to take his calls or did you forget that? I just… I need you to understand that I can’t risk losing this place. My father, he knew that Agron’s family wanted to take over Leopard’s Den so why would I trust Agron to come within an inch of this place?”

“Maybe because Agron is not his father and you are not yours. Nasir, you have got to put this behind you, really, it’s clouding your eyes to what is really going on. You can see that Agron is damn good at his job, has skills that maybe you don’t and it scares you. Well, let me tell you something, being scared is good, it makes you sharp and drives you to better yourself, but if you let it control who you are then you might as well give up now.”

Nasir stared, blank faced and silent. He knew his feelings about Mara and its team weren’t held in the same regard by his own staff, but he hadn’t known quite how alone he was in his feelings.

“We all love you, you know we do and we would do anything for this place. I just want you to understand that Mara isn’t the enemy.” Lucretia looked back towards the quarantine pen and sighed. “Right now we need someone who has dealt with something like this. Just please think about it.”

She could see that Nasir was in one hell of a mood now, his bottom lip squished between his teeth and a frown line running deeply across his brow. He blinked a few times and shuffled his feet and she knew then that her words had gotten through at least. Whether or not he took any notice was another matter.

“I have to go feed the lions,” Nasir said huffily and stalked past Lucretia with his eyes down. His cheeks had taken on that little pink hue that they only did when he was feeling sorry for himself, so not that often. “I’ll think about it.”

Lucretia nodded and let Nasir leave without pushing him any further. She would just have to wait and see if Nasir took her advice or not.

 

~~~

The day before the open day arrived and it was all hands on deck at Leopard’s Den. Nasir, despite Lucretia’s words hadn’t made any attempt to contact Mara and although she wanted to shake him and tell him he was being a fool there were too many things to keep her mind racing as it was.

“Donar, has the fence by the antelope paddock been fixed? I swear those elephants just know when we plant new fruit trees. Inconsiderate beasts!”

Donar laughed and rolled his eyes. He, as the sanctuary’s resident handyman and jack of all trades, was used to the endless cycle of fixing things when nature took its inevitable course. The wildlife would never play to their rules and he liked that. Whenever a fence was trampled or knocked down Donar would see it as nature being nature and there wasn’t anything they could do to deny its power.

“I fixed it this morning. Saxa helped and it didn’t take long so don’t worry. You know what Kora is like, she never did understand that out there is home for her now and not here. She just misses us sometimes is all.”

Kora, the little African elephant was one of Leopard’s Den’s biggest success stories. A few years ago, right after Nasir’s father had passed away, they took in an orphaned elephant that was on the brink of death. Nasir and his team had worked tirelessly to bring her back to health and eventually she had thrived into a lively, happy and healthy elephant. Donar had taken a shine to her and she to him and it wasn’t an unusual sight to see Kora following the man around the sanctuary as he did his work. When the time came for her to be released to a local wild herd none had taken her departure harder than Donar. Every so often though, when the herd passed through the two thousand acres surrounding Leopard’s Den she would always visit, much to Donar’s joy. If a few fences were in her way then she would just trample them down.

“So everything is done then? Ready for tomorrow?” Lucretia asked hopefully. She wanted everything to be perfect for the open day.

“No, nothing will ever be done, there isn’t enough time in the world, but everything that we can possibly have done has been so don’t worry. Tomorrow will be great and maybe get the donations flowing again. Fuck knows we could do with it.”

Donar was right. Even with the money Nasir’s father had left in his will and the funding the sanctuary received from the South African government, but things were still tight. Nasir hoped that the open day would encourage tourists and locals alike to see all the work that they did for conservation, breeding and the protection and care of the wildlife there and dig deep into their pockets.

“Is Nasir in with the cubs again? He was with them all night,” Donar said with concern in his voice.

“He hasn’t been sleeping since they were brought in.” Lucretia bit her lip and gave Donar a small smile. They both knew Nasir was already emotionally invested in the cubs and wouldn’t give up on them even if his own health suffered.

The cubs had responded to the medication and were eating enough to keep them going, but they were utterly terrified if anyone tried to get near them. They had all tried to ease them into a pen outside so they could get some sun and fresh air, but they would strike out if anyone got too close, hissing and baring their teeth.

“I’ll go and see if he needs a break,” Lucretia said and walked towards the cheetah enclosure.

“Force him into one if he complains,” Donar yelled after her.

“Oh, don’t you worry I will.”

She would be damned if Nasir turned into a walking zombie and wasn’t at his best for the open day and at the rate he was going he wouldn’t be able to string a sentence together let alone show visitors around.

“Nasir, you in here?”

“Yeah, give me a minute I’m just… fuck!” Nasir emerged from the enclosure a few seconds later clutching his arm. Even from a distance Lucretia could see the blood seeping through his fingers.

“Here, let me see that. Come sit down.”

The cut wasn’t deep, just a jagged scratch down Nasir’s forearm from a nasty swipe of a cheetah claw. Lucretia kept a tight hold of Nasir’s wrist as she swiped an antiseptic wipe over it and Nasir hissed at the sting. She wrapped his arm in a bandage and then sat down next to him.

“You need some sleep. Exhaustion won’t do you _or_ those cubs any good.”

Nasir sighed. “You’re right.”

“I’m sorry what?”

Nasir laughed and gave Lucretia a smile.

“I know I’ve been acting a bit mad and I’m sorry. They are just getting to me and I feel like I can’t help them.”

“Let’s get tomorrow out of the way and then we can figure it out starting with manning up and calling Mara. Even if it’s just to hear what Agron has to say? I don’t want any arguments and if after you talk to him and really listened you still want nothing to do with them then I will support you.”

Nasir was quiet for a moment, his face pensive and tense.

“No arguments? Don’t you know who you are saying that too?” He flashed a smile at her and she smacked him around the back of the head laughing. “Okay, I will call Mara. I don’t like it, but I’m sort of really scared of you.”

Lucretia gasped in mock astonishment and batted her eyelashes.

“Scared of me?” She tutted and stood up to face Nasir. Her face changed from light hearted to serious and she lifted Nasir’s chin so that his eyes met hers. “We are all so proud of you. Whatever happens with the cubs and whatever else finds itself in our hands you just remember that you are the one that keeps us all going, pushing through the stress and the late nights and we need you. So go and get some fucking sleep and Jupiter’s cock man have a shower!”

Nasir waited until Lucretia was out of sight to sneakily sniff his armpit. Yeah, maybe he did need to sort that out, he thought, and wrinkled his nose.

***

The morning of the open day finally arrived and Nasir woke up with a pulsing headache.

Just great.

Dragging himself out of bed he shuffled into the bathroom and stripped off his sweatpants and t-shirt. The shower beat down on his skin and he tried to calm the erratic beating of his heart, but it was no use. The pressure of running the sanctuary was wearing him down and the brave, confident front he was so used to putting on for his team was finally starting to crack.

The cheetahs had been the final straw. He didn’t know what to do to help them.

Nasir scrubbed his hands through his hair and inhaled the tangy scent of the shampoo. Today, he had to be at his best despite his growing depression.

As he washed the night away from his skin his thoughts turned to his other problem. Agron.

The problem was that Nasir was attracted to him… really, stupidly attracted to him. They had met a handful of times at various conferences and Nasir could still remember the day he had first laid eyes on the man.

Nasir had gone to one of those conferences where the local council, environmental agents and people from wildlife sanctuaries came together to discuss issues and plans for the future success of the country’s native animals.

Nasir was younger then, not as invested in the sanctuary… it was his father’s love and he wasn’t sure if it was what he wanted for his own life. He was bored.

It turned out he wasn’t the only one.

“Fuck the Gods, this is dull… really fucking dull. It’s all talk and no action if you ask me. Some of these suits need to get off their arses and get out in the field to see what we have to do every damn day then they would know what they are talking about. You’re from Leopard’s Den, right? Amazing what your pop has done with the place, but don’t tell my dad I said that.  I’m Agron. The foods good here so I suppose the day isn’t a total waste of fucking time. You, know someone over there actually asked me if I thought more funding should go on training more rangers and not something else… who the fuck are some of these people…”

Nasir had stood, open mouthed as Agron had talked and talked and talked. He was so alive and vibrant while Nasir felt faded and invisible. And yet Agron had found him.

“You want a drink, little man? I can sneak you a beer cause there is no way you’re old enough.” Agron smiled then and Nasir’s world stopped. “You okay? You don’t have to have the beer, I was kidding… well not really, but… you know what, I’ll get you a coke. Wait here, yeah?”

Off he went like a force of nature leaving Nasir crushed and baffled in his wake. Nasir could see Agron, head and shoulders above everyone else around him and he was smiling like he had found the only good thing in the room.

Nasir knew then that Agron must be fucking mad.

When he returned, coke in one hand and a plate of food in the other he stood far too close and smelled too good.

“My name isn’t little man.” His voice had found its way home it seemed. Nasir took a step back and crossed his arms. He felt like a stupid, pouty kid, but Agron seemed unfazed.

“Oh, I know that. Your name is Nasir.” Agron’s eyes, his green, amazing eyes sparkled. He had a wicked grin and the way he added a ‘z’ to Nasir’s name made him feel angry and turned on all at once. He was so confused that he just wanted to get away from Agron as quickly as possible. “I got you some food to go with your coke.”

Nasir took the plate and the can and stared.

“I have to go, but I hope I see you again… there’s another one of these bullshit meetings in a few months.” Agron swiped a sausage roll from the flimsy paper plate and stuffed it into his mouth. “See you, little man.”

Agron walked… no swaggered away and all Nasir could do was blink.

Now, so many years later, Nasir still felt like a lost boy in Agron’s presence. They each ran their own sanctuaries, but Nasir had kept his distance from Mara… his father had been sure that Agron’s family wanted control over Leopard’s Den and Agron must be part of that.

_So why are you doubting yourself?_

Nasir shut off the water and marched out of the shower.

“Pathetic…. You are so pathetic.”

He dressed and tied his hair up in a high ponytail; it could dry in the sun.

Making his was out of the house he saw something that made him forget his bad mood, people arriving at the front gate… and lots of them.

He breathed in deeply and put on his mask, the one that covered his loneliness and his fear and went to greet his guests.

***

“I shouldn’t be doing this,” Agron sighed as he drove up the gravel drive and into Leopard’s Den.

“Don’t be such a pussy. We have every damn right to be here.”

“Why are you here again I forget,” Agron scowled at the manicured blonde sitting in the passenger seat.

“I want to snoop around of course and I have no trouble admitting to it. You are the one in denial.” She pointed at him as she spoke and he shook his head.

“I’m not in denial Ilithyia, I just feel bad… like I’m tricking Nasir or something. He should have had a bit of warning I guess.”

Agron parked the car and they both got out. There was quite a crowd already and no sign of Nasir so Agron relaxed a little. He wanted to blend in and not cause a scene.

“So where do you want to go first. No, don’t tell me… the cheetah enclosure? Of course, come on then,” Ilithyia said and marched off.

Agron shrugged and followed the woman into the sanctuary. He had grown used to her… unique personality and when he had hired her a few years ago to be the sanctuaries publicist and campaign manager he hadn’t really known what to make of her. Eventually though they had become good friends.

“Come on assface!” Ilithyia yelled, completely ignoring the sour looks from parents walking past her.

Agron shook his head and laughed, running to catch up and slinging his arm over her shoulders.

***

 “This old boy is called Zak and he came to us about a year ago from a zoo who kept him in awful conditions. He’s totally blind in one eye and still has some issues but he has come so far in such a short time that he is happy to go outside into the pre-release pen which he didn’t do when we got him.”

Nasir was walking about a dozen people over to a large pen and Agron hovered at the back. Thank fuck there was a really tall guy at the back that he could hide behind. Creepy maybe, but he wanted to watch Nasir for a while without him knowing he was there. He was mesmerized by how passionate the little man was about his sanctuary. Every word was filled with the blood, sweat and tears he had given to the place and Agron admired him immensely. He just wished Nasir would give him the time of day. He didn’t understand the hostility Nasir had for him, yes their fathers had had issues, but he had assumed it was between them. It looked like Nasir had been poisoned against the son as well as the father.

“I want to ask a question.”

Agron blinked out of his daydream and turned to look at Ilithyia.

“You can’t, he knows you and you would blow our cover.” Agron whispered and ducked down a little more.

“Um, okay Nancy Drew…” she said to Agron before standing on her tippies to see Nasir over the tops of people’s heads. “Excuse me, Nasir? I have a question about Zak.”

Ilithyia moved through the crowd to the front. Agron watched a flash of recognition and confusion pass over Nasir’s face and then it was gone. He hung back hoping that he would go unnoticed.

“Agron, what was the question again, I forgot.” She turned, as did the whole group, to look at Agron.

“Um… I… she was wondering if Zak would be able to integrate with other cheetahs, but that isn’t possible is it?” Agron smiled at Nasir and moved to join Ilithyia.

Nasir was quiet for a moment, his eyes fixed on Agron’s face.

“You’re right; unfortunately Zak has been imprinted which means he associates with people not cheetahs. He doesn’t think he is a cheetah because all he knew as a cub were humans and he hasn’t ever interacted with others of his kind. Zak is too old for us to try but he is happier than he was at the zoo.”

Nasir clenched his jaw and looked away from Agron.

“Happier?” A young girl standing next to Agron said, looking confused. “Zak isn’t really happy?”

“Zak is happier here, but he will never be free. A wild thing has to be free to be completely happy and unfortunately that won’t ever happen for Zak. Shall we go and see the zebras next?” Nasir changed the subject and started to try and get the crowd away from the subject of cheetahs.

“Don’t you have two cheetah cubs here?” Agron spoke up, making out he didn’t already know that Nasir did have them, but he wanted the crowd to take an interest. Nasir’s annoyance was starting to show, but Agron thought why not carry on asking questions now he had been rumbled.

“Yes, we have two cubs, but unfortunately they aren’t fit to be shown today. Shall we?” Nasir held out his hand to guide the crowd, but the traitors were in cahoots with Agron it seemed.

“What is wrong with them exactly,” Agron pushed. He wanted to know so that he was sure that he was the one Nasir needed to help him.

“Yeah, what happened to them?” The little girl, Agron’s new favourite person in the whole world, asked and Nasir knew he had no choice but to explain the situation with the cubs.

“A week ago, we got a call from a ranger about two cheetah cubs that had been found in a shed off the main road into town. As many of you will know, exotic animal trafficking is a big problem here in Africa and when the cubs were found…”

Nasir took a deep breath and a wave of guilt hit Agron in the heart. It was obviously painful for him to talk about; the darkness in his eyes and the barely noticeable quiver in his voice that no one but Agron seemed to hear said it all.

“They were found in a suitcase and it’s believed that the poachers who took them from the wild were disturbed or scared off by rangers and for some reason couldn’t get back to claim them. It was luck that a ranger thought to check in the shed and a miracle that he looked in the suitcase. They are still very sick but they are fighting.”

“Are they very small? Can we see them?” The little Agron cheerleader was on a roll and Nasir tried his best not to scowl at her. It wasn’t her fault, but it was like Agron’s words were coming from her mouth. Nasir heard her question, but directed his answer at Agron.

“No, you can’t see them… they are in an area of quarantine and need to be kept calm and quiet. As for them being small...” Nasir shook his head slightly, annoyed that he was revealing all this information for Agron to hear. “They are about five months old so, not too small and the case they were in… it was barely big enough for one of them so they were pretty crammed in. Could we, um... shall we move on?”

Agron stood still and watched the group move on without him. He was rooted to the spot feeling like the biggest shit that ever lived.

“Hey, we not following the group any more I take it?” Ilithyia wandered back to where Agron was standing.

“I think I’ve bothered him enough, don’t you?” Agron turned, heading back to the centre of the sanctuary where information and displays had been set up. He really did want to learn about Mara and was interested to see how they handled the ups and downs of this life they all led.

“Yes! The food tent is this way. Let’s get some breakfast first, yeah. What?” Ilithyia said when Agron rolled his eyes at her. “Just because you and moping after Nasir doesn’t mean I should starve.”

Glancing back at the group Agron hoped Nasir would turn, look at him… give him some acknowledgement, but Nasir’s back was all he got.

Maybe showing up unannounced wasn’t the best idea after all.

 

***

 

“Oh, fuck me, this tastes amazing. You have to try this.”

“There are kids around, enough with the swearing. And get that out of my face.”

Ilithyia removed the French toast from under Agron’s nose and tutted.

“Why don’t you try and find him? You know, talk to him? He’s never going to know that you want to help if you don’t try. There are only so many times you can offer yourself, Agron, before you have to face the fact that he’s probably as rotten as his father was. He’s been conditioned to hate you and if you want my opinion that’s bullshit. Nasir is missing out on your expertise and your help with those cubs for the sake of his pride and because of his father’s idiotic ideas. That boy needs to strap on a pair and think for himself, if you ask me.”

Ilithyia sighed, the breath gone from her lungs and bit into the toast.

“Are you off your soapbox? He isn’t like his father; I just know he’s not.”

Ilithyia shook her head. It was no use even trying to get Agron to try and see Nasir as something other than perfect.

“Ooh, don’t look now. Nasir’s bodyguard has spotted us.” Ilithyia continued chewing on her food, nonplussed at the fuming looking Lucretia approaching them.

Agron smiled, even though the woman terrified him and he felt like screaming on the inside. This day was going bad enough already without Lucretia ripping into him.

“You just had to show your face today didn’t you? Do you know how many times I have tried to get Nasir to call you, listen to what you want to say to him? Come with me… just you Agron. I’ve just sent Nasir into the house for some painkillers and a sit down so you can see him, try to apologise, and then leave.” Lucretia shook her head and beckoned for Agron to follow her.

“Um, stay here or I dunno, just don’t get into trouble. You’re still representing Mara,” Agron said to Ilithyia before joining Lucretia.

The red headed woman marched through the crowds with Agron at her heels.

“I am sorry that I just showed up, but I don’t have any agenda here. I want to help. Is… is Nasir okay?” Agron looked at her out of the corner of his eye as she led him towards the main house.

“He’s stressed, overworked and confused.” Lucretia stopped abruptly and turned to face Agron. “For some mad reason I actually believe that you don’t have some evil plot to take over Leopard’s Den. I also believe that you genuinely want to assist us with the cheetahs.”

“Thank you, I…”

“I’m not done,” she interrupted, “like I said, I believe those things, what I don’t know yet is what you want from Nasir.”

Agron frowned. “I’m not sure what you mean by that. I want to be a friend to him… I thought we were friends actually so I would like to repair whatever it is I have done and have him as a friend again.”

Lucretia stood for a moment and watched Agron’s expression closely. She had a good feeling about him, but there was no way in hell she was going to let him in on that.

“Nasir will be in the living room at the back of the house. The front door is open, just keep going you can’t miss it.”

“Oh, uh… thanks,” Agron said, slightly baffled, but he wasn’t going to mess up an opportunity to speak to Nasir face to face.

He headed up the steps to the front door and went inside. The house was open and light with a staircase leading up to an open balcony of the top floor on Agron’s right. He continued into the house, walking past a few closed doors until he made it to the back of the house. There were large double doors in front of him, one slightly ajar. He hesitated for a second before knocking lightly on the door.

“Hello?” Nasir’s confused voice came from inside the room and Agron took that as a cue to poke his head around the door.

“Hi,” Agron said, taking in Nasir’s shocked expression before opening the door fully and stepping inside. “Wow, just look at that view. I don’t ever think I’ll be sick of seeing it.” The sight of the open plains of Africa wiped Agron’s mind of his purpose and he wandered to the floor to ceiling windows in front of him.

The main house had been built before the sanctuary and so the living area looked out on the wild, free lands that spread out past the pre-release pens. The view was completely unmarred by fences or pens or anything unnatural. It was stunning.

“This is a great house, little man,” Agron said with awe in his voice. He turned away from the window to find Nasir standing by the large unlit fireplace. His long hair was hanging down and falling on his cheeks, creating a shadow over his face.

“Why are you here?”  

Agron sighed. He had thought if he behaved like he always had with Nasir things would be okay. It was clearly not going to be so easy.

 “Can we sit?”

Nasir nodded and moved to one of the large chairs while Agron sat opposite on the sofa.

“I wanted to apologise for coming here like this and for upsetting you earlier. I didn’t want that. You wouldn’t take my calls and I didn’t know what else to do really so when I saw you were having this open day I just thought… maybe you would talk to me if there were other people around and you didn’t have a choice. That’s really shit. Now I’ve said it out loud it sounds really shit. I’m sorry… again.”

“I don’t want your help. You can go now.” The sight of Agron in his sanctuary had crushed any thoughts he had of giving the man a chance.

“Nasir, why don’t you like me anymore, huh? We always got on at those seminars and then all of a sudden you would avoid me there. What did I do?” Agron didn’t care if he sounded heartbroken because by that point he couldn’t control it. He thought that he had a connection with Nasir and when he had started pulling away; Agron was shocked by how much it had hurt. “I thought we were friends.”

Nasir looked down at his hands. He was confused by Agron and wanted so much for his words to be true. But after what his father had told him about Agron’s family made him think again. He couldn’t trust Agron.

“I can tell you’re not going to answer that, so just please, listen for a minute okay?” Agron nodded to himself and stood up. “The cubs are aggressive and unresponsive to you, right? I take they are the cause of your injured arm. I’ve dealt with a similar case before, not quite as horrific as yours, but similar. I tried everything to get through to my cubs, but they were too traumatised. In the end I decided to try something I hadn’t ever tried before and it worked. I know it will work with yours, but that is up to you I guess. I still consider you as my friend and I want to help.”

Nasir frowned. He was intrigued by this so called solution to his problem, but he wanted to keep Agron at arm’s length. Maybe if he found out what Agron had done with his cheetahs then he could do the same thing and not see Agron again. As soon as the thought entered his head though he knew that it wasn’t his wish, it was his fathers.

“What did you do to help them?”

Agron could have given Nasir an ultimatum. Knowledge in exchange for Nasir’s agreement to let Agron help out, but he couldn’t do that. Nasir had to find out for himself that Agron had his best interests at heart and pushing him any more wouldn’t achieve that. He had to offer the information freely.

“The cubs need discipline and structure. Something they will only get from their elders and not from human interaction. It’s a little unorthodox to mix cubs from different parents and I’m not saying it will go smoothly from the start, but it worked for me. My cubs learned from the older cheetahs I put them with and in time they came around to being treated and let me and my staff close. They were released early this year and they are doing great.”

Agron sat down again. He felt like he was talking to a brick wall.

“I have some young cheetahs that would be perfect for you. One of my staff, Gannicus maybe… he knows my method, although I would have to go through it again with him… anyway, he could be here and help if you don’t want me to be. I make you uncomfortable or something so I will just send someone else to help.”

Agron shook his head and stood up again. He was going to get a sprain if he kept bobbing up and down all the time, but he couldn’t seem to sit still. Besides, he was a bit pissed off and he had only just realised it.

“You know what? No. This is fucking ridiculous. I am the best person to help you with this and I don’t know why you hate me, but you need to put that to one side and think. I can help you and if you want me too then give me a call and I will.” He walked towards the doors, but stopped before he left Nasir alone. “I’m sorry for whatever I did that made you not like me… if you ever did. See you around, little man.”

Agron left him then and didn’t look back. He marched out of the house, across the lawn and back into the heart of the sanctuary. His eyes found Lucretia who looked at him expectantly, but he ignored her. He wanted to get the fuck home.

“Ilithyia, we’re going.”

Agron held on to her elbow and guided her away from a display on poaching and ivory and headed for the car.

“Didn’t go well then?” She said taking the keys from Agron’s hand and shaking her head when he tried to take them back. “You’re in no state to drive, you’re upset.”

“I can’t stand it… I’m not my dad. He hardly even looked at me and we were… I always though he saw who I was not just who dad was and whenever we met I never thought that he didn’t… I’m such an idiot to think we were ever friends.”

Agron slumped down in the passenger seat and put his head on the window. It was in Nasir’s hands now and all he could do was wait. He didn’t expect to hear from Nasir again.

He certainly never expected Nasir to show up at Mara the very next day either.

 

***

“Fuck the gods!”

It was the fourth time that night that Agron had caught his hand on the sharp edges of the metal fence he was building. Mara had a new enclosure that needed to be finished for some Ostriches arriving from a farm at the end of the week and Agron had been working on the pen all day.

He couldn’t get Nasir off his mind. He didn’t know where the sweet boy had gone, the shy young man he had grown to admire over the years. The Nasir he had seen yesterday wasn’t the man he thought he had bonded with.

Agron had always had a foolish heart. It was as wild as the creatures he surrounded himself with. He had never been any other way and he couldn’t change.

“Agron! Visitor!”

Agron jumped and shook his head. Whoever it was Spartacus could get rid of them.

“I’m busy Sparty. Give them some excuse, yeah?” Agron yelled to Spartacus. He couldn’t actually see where Spartacus was for the corrugated metal sheets he was currently behind, but they were far enough away from the other enclosures for yelling to be acceptable.

Agron jumped again when his friend appeared as if out of nowhere.

“It’s Nasir,” Spartacus said, his voice low and conspiratorial.

“What? Ouch… fuck” Agron caught his hand again, the flesh tearing in a long scrape and he clamped his other hand over the wound. It was only a scratch but it stung like hell. “Are you sure?”

Spartacus rolled his eyes. “I have seen the man before and he introduced himself when he knocked on the reception door, so yeah… I’m sure.”

“What the hell is he doing here?”

“He’s right round the corner so go ask.”

Agron looked horrified. He was bleeding, he was sweaty and dirty and felt like crap and then he was running his mouth off in Nasir’s earshot. Fucking perfect.

Following Spartacus around the metal sheeting propped up against the half built structure Agron felt a flutter of nerves hit him. He had no idea why Nasir was there. The first glimpse of Nasir in the moonlight did fuck all to ease his nerves. He looked so beautiful and shy that Agron’s heart thumped hard in his chest.

“I’ll leave you guys to it. I have dinner to cook. Nasir, you’re welcome to stay if you want?” Spartacus arched an eyebrow and smiled.

“I really can’t stay long, but… thanks for the offer.” Nasir looked shocked at being asked in the first place.

“Another time maybe? Agron, I’ll do your steak last okay?” Spartacus gave Agron his best comforting glance and walked back towards the sanctuary.

“Hi, um, this is a bit of a surprise. I thought that was the last I was going to see of you,” Agron laughed nervously and grabbed a rag from the pile of tools at his feet. He pressed the cloth to his hand and pressed down. He noticed that Nasir followed his movements with his eyes.

“I came to apologise for how I acted yesterday. I wasn’t expecting to see you and the open day was a big day for me and it was all a bit overwhelming. I was rude though and for that I’m sorry.” Nasir’s words were clipped and to the point.

“Okay, I’m feeling a ‘but’ coming on,” Agron said, waiting for Nasir to continue.

“But, I don’t think I can do what you want me to.”

Agron blew out a breath, incredulous. He shook his head.

“Whatever this thing is that you can’t get past, at least tell me so I can defend myself and I don’t know… I don’t remember doing anything to hurt you so please, tell me.”

“I can’t trust someone who tried to force my father out of our sanctuary the week before he died, okay. I have to go.”

Agron stared as Nasir hurried back up the grass bank. He was stunned at the outburst, but he wasn’t going to let Nasir walk away.

“Wait!”

Nasir kept walking so Agron jogged to catch up with him.

“I don’t know what you are talking about, but whatever you think you know… you’re wrong. I never did anything like that.”

Nasir shook his head and wrapped his arms around himself. Agron saw that Nasir was only dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and now that the burning sun had set a chill was in the air.

“Nasir, stop!”

“Why, so you can try and talk your way out of it? My dad told me before he died what your father did. What you both did. Finding loopholes in our funding and scaring off investors. You were trying to force us out so you could expand Mara. My land and your land join and with me gone you would have the biggest sanctuary in the country.”

“That isn’t true…  I never did anything like that, I wouldn’t.”

“I didn’t believe my dad at first until I saw the evidence, papers with your names and signatures on them, documents and plans for the expansions.”

Nasir stopped walking and turned on Agron, his eyes burning.

“Were you laughing at me after those conferences? I must have seemed like such a joke to you… it’s just like my dad said, you wouldn’t have been speaking to me at all if you didn’t want something.”

Every word from Nasir’s mouth was like a bullet in Agron’s chest. He couldn’t believe that this was how Nasir saw him.

“No… I never laughed at you… what the fuck? I liked you, I still like you! This is fucking crazy!" Agron paced up and down, his hands clenched into fists. Nasir watched him, looking more confused than angry now. Agron looked truly upset by what he had been told. “Those papers you saw, do you still have them?”

“Yes, I thought I might need them someday in case your father…” he stopped talking abruptly. He was going to say, in case Agron’s father tried anything like it again he would have evidence, but then he remembered that Agron’s father had died six months later and he hadn’t got the chance.

“I want to see them… if my dad had something to do with it I have to know for sure, but I promise you now… I did not do this. I thought we were friends and I am sorry you thought I was tricking you or some bullshit. I… I have to go.”

Agron left Nasir standing there. He just wanted to get away from him. All the years he had pined after something that wasn’t even real.

“I’m such a fucking idiot!” Agron said out loud.

“What?” Nasir chased after him.

“I said, I am a fucking idiot. Why would I bother to try and help you with your cubs if I could just sabotage your sanctuary from the outside, huh? And all those times at the conferences… I talked to you about myself, music I like and fucking places I have visited and tons of shit about my life and that doesn’t seem odd to you? Why would I become friends with someone who I was planning to screw over?”

Agron stepped closer to Nasir, looking him square in the eye and putting a hand on his shoulder.

“You _can’t_ believe that I would do that to you?”

Nasir blinked at the sincerity of Agron’s words. He had to admit that they made sense and from the slight tremble he could feel in the warm pressure of Agron’s hand on his body he couldn’t doubt Agron anymore.

“I-I don’t know… are you serious?”

“If you knew me at all you would know that I’m not lying.”

The strange thing was that Nasir did know Agron. That first day that he had bombarded into his life and talked to him like he was his oldest friend had been the best moment of Nasir’s life. Agron was excruciatingly open with him, from the moment they met. Why would he be lying now?

“I want to trust you…” Nasir said quietly, not trusting his voice not to shake if he spoke any louder.

“Then trust me. Please.”

His heart was beating wildly and even in the growing coldness of night, Nasir felt hot, even feverish.

“Nasir,” Agron’s hand trailed down Nasir’s arm raising goose bumps on his skin, “let me come over to Leopard’s Den tomorrow, I can tell you more about how we can get your cubs on the right track and we can figure out what this mess is all about. What do you think? Can you do that for me?”

Green eyes, clear and bright seemed to hold truth in them. Nasir nodded, suddenly feeling totally exhausted. Trusting Agron felt right, but his father’s words were ringing in his ears. He tried to block them out, but he had lived with them for so long now he heard them in his dreams.

“You can come to Leopard’s Den and we can talk. I think I should go.”

Agron just nodded and this time he didn’t follow when Nasir walked away from him. He closed his eyes and leaned against the wooden fence that led up to Mara’s communal house. The others would be wondering where he was and what Nasir wanted.

 _What the hell do I tell them?_ Agron thought sadly. He didn’t know what to think himself.

“Everything okay, bud?” Spartacus strolled out of the front of the house and patted Agron’s back, breaking him out of his confused thoughts.

“No, not really, but I have to fix it. Nasir thinks my dad and me were trying to take Leopard’s Den from under them. He says he has proof, but then… I think he saw that I wasn’t lying to him. Ilithyia was right and it’s like he has been poisoned to believe that we are the enemy here.”

Spartacus frowned and shook his head.

“If he has proof though… it means something dodgy was going on, either between your dad and Nasir’s or just one of them. Do you think you and Nasir can handle finding out which.”

Agron thought for a minute about what his friend was saying. He could not doubt his own father and he was sure that he had not wanted to take over Leopard’s Den. That only left one other option. Nasir’s father was lying.

“I have to find out what’s going on. I guess we will deal with it when we do. But my main concern is for those cubs. If I can get them to trust me then maybe Nasir will too.”

Spartacus smiled at his friend. He had the biggest heart of anyone he had ever met and if Nasir didn’t change his mind after spending some real time with Agron he wasn’t worth it.

Spartacus though could read people well and the young man from their ‘rival’ sanctuary had a heart to match Agron’s.

They both just needed a little push.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jupiters cock! I cannot tell you how sorry I am for not updating sooner. It's sort of a short chapter but I am working on more! Apologies!

“I’m going then, um, see you later.”

“Don’t be nervous. You haven’t done anything wrong and he will see that. He just has to get over whatever his father told him and he’ll see it.” Mira squeezed Agron’s hand and smiled.

“I’m not nervous,” Agron scoffed.

He tapped his fingers on the reception desk and chewed on his lip. Maybe he was nervous, a little…

“You think you’ll be home for lunch?” Mira asked.

“I might be back sooner if things don’t go well,” he laughed, but Mira could see the apprehension in his eyes.

“Just be yourself, that’s what you’ve always been whenever you’ve seen him.”

Agron shrugged and grabbed his rucksack from the floor. It had turned out that being himself had meant that he had acted like a gullible fool and he had just decided that he and Nasir were friends, never once thinking that maybe Nasir wasn’t so willing.

“I’ll try,” he said finally and walked out of the door.

The morning was warming up fast. Agron put on his sunglasses and walked to his truck, not really sure about what he was getting himself into.

Pulling out onto the road, he switched on the car radio and flicked through the stations. He needed something good to listen to give him courage. When he heard the intro to ‘Eye of the Tiger’ he couldn’t help but grin and turn the volume up louder. A bit of fist pumping and bad singing made him feel a bit better. What was the worst that could happen? Nasir could decide he didn’t care what Agron had to say and kick him out of his sanctuary for good. He could throw him in with the lions? Agron laughed at the thought.

Up ahead, Agron saw a white Jeep at the side of the road. Even at a distance he could see it was from Leopard’s Den because of the logo on the side. He slowed, searching for the driver but found the car was empty. Pulling over, he got out and walked over to the vehicle and called out, hoping that whoever was driving the car was nearby.

“Agron, is that you?”

Agron headed towards the sound of the voice and into the trees.

“Donar? What’s up, man?”

He heard Donar grunt and then the distinct sound of an animal in distress. He started to jog through the wood until he saw Donar kneeling on the ground with a young gazelle in his arms. There were blood spots on the dry grass and the animal was screaming in pain.

“She’s caught in a snare… I think her leg is broken. Can you help me loosen the wire?”

Agron got down on the ground and gently straightened the deer’s leg so he could get at the thin snare wire. It was a typical poacher’s trap, though meant for something much bigger.

“It’s definitely broken… the wire is cutting through her leg,” Agron said as he eased the wire out of the bloodied flesh and moved it down and off her leg.

“Fucking poachers,” Donar cursed. “Can you hold her while I cut the fucking thing down?”

Agron nodded and took the deer out of Donar’s arms. He walked back to the cars, leaving Donar to it, and grabbed a towel out of the back of his truck. The deer had quietened and was lying stiffly in his arms.

“Come on, you can’t die on us.” Agron draped the towel over the deer’s eyes. She felt cold and Agron knew he was losing her.

“Hey, get in,” Donar said, motioning to his car. “We can come back for your car later.”

Agron nodded and held the gazelle closer to his chest. It wasn’t far to Leopard’s Den, but they would be lucky if the little thing made it that far. They drove in silence. Agron glanced over to Donar every now and again, his white knuckled hands gripped tightly on the steering wheel and his eyes fixed on the road.

“The vet might still be at the sanctuary,” Donar said suddenly. “He might be able to…”

Agron shook his head when Donar turned to look at him. The gazelle was dead.

“She was too young, the trauma and the break… I’m sorry, man.” Agron sighed.

“Fuck,” Donar mumbled under his breath. “Fuck!” He slammed his hands on the steering wheel.

They reached Leopard’s Den a short time later and Agron waited for Donar to open the door for him. The deer barely weighed anything, but Agron was holding it carefully with both hands close to his chest.

Agron saw Nasir standing by the entrance to reception watching them, but he was more concerned about Donar at that point. The man looked like hell.

“Hey, where can we take her? We should bury her,” Agron said quietly.

Horrific as it was, the normal procedure was to incinerate any animals that passed at the sanctuary, burying them was impractical, but Agron could see how upset his friend was over the gazelle so he thought one time wouldn’t hurt.

“Um, yeah, we can go to the field behind the stables. It’s fenced off so nothing will dig her up.”  Donar nodded and started to lead Agron to the wooden building.

“Wait up,” Nasir called as he jogged over to them. He looked at Donar and then Agron. “What’s going on?”

“There was… I…” Donar began to speak, but Agron stepped in front of him and took over.

“She was in a snare trap,” Agron said quietly, looking down at the deer, still half covered by the towel, in his arms. “Donar found her, but she was in a bad way and… we were just gonna bury her.”

“Oh… I’m sorry.” Nasir turned to Donar. “How about under the Mopane tree round the back? It’s a nice spot. Come on.”

Nasir led the way, stopping quickly for a shovel, and the two men followed him silently. Agron watched as Donar took the shovel from Nasir’s hands and began to move the earth in large chunks.

“You were right. This is a nice spot,” Agron said, glancing at Nasir.

Donar finished digging, it hadn’t taken him long to make a hole big enough for the little deer. Agron handed her over and Donar laid her gently in the earth and covered her back up. He knelt for a minute, his hand pressed into the soil.

“Fucking poachers,” he muttered, before standing up and gripping Agron’s shoulder tightly. “Thanks, man. I owe you a beer, yeah? Vaughn’s on Saturday night?”

“Yeah, see you there, man. Take it easy,” Agron said, patting Donar on the back.

“Thanks, boss,” Donar said to Nasir, walking past them and leaving them alone.

“You two know each other?” Nasir didn’t think any of his staff interacted with anyone from Mara. Then again, he never mentioned Agron to Donar before so how would he know if he knew Agron. A pang of guilt made his heart flutter.

“We’ve known each other for a while and see each other in town every now and again,” Agron replied, falling into step beside Nasir as he walked them back to the main house. Agron tried not to stare at how beautiful Nasir looked that morning, but he was having some trouble.

“Oh,” Nasir said softly. “He’s sensitive when we lose any of our animals. Not that it’s not hard for all of us, but he always takes it to heart… it was good of you to help him.”

Agron clenched his jaw. He wasn’t sure if Nasir was intentionally messing with him or if he had actually started to believe that he was actually telling the truth. Either way, Agron wanted to prove his innocence more than anything. If Nasir didn’t want anything to do with him after that, he would get over it. It would take time, he liked Nasir a lot, but he wouldn’t be untrue to himself. He was a good man and there was no way he was going to be accused of something he didn’t do, regardless of who was accusing him.

“Nasir, did you find those papers you told me about. I’d really like to get this cleared up.”

Their eyes met briefly and Nasir nodded, quickening his pace up to the front of the house and motioning for Agron to follow him. Agron found himself in the living room again, those windows enticing him to look out on the magnificent view again.

“I’ll just get them,” Nasir said, walking out of the room and leaving Agron alone.

It was obvious that Agron was toning down his usual cheerful self. It was unnerving and Nasir was confused by how bad he felt. He shook his head, running the last few steps up to his bedroom and looked down at the stack of papers sitting on his desk. They were proof weren’t they?

Nasir ran his fingertips over the black ink marking the pages and the signature that had crushed his foolish heart all those months ago. He picked them up and pressed them against his chest, heading back down the stairs and towards the doors of the living room. He hesitated a second, just listening, but he couldn’t hear Agron moving around so he took a deep breath and stepped into the room.

Agron was standing by the window with his hands in his pockets. His face looked pensive, distant, but not panicked or guilty. Nasir didn’t know what to make of the man.

Coughing, Nasir hovered by the door, watching as Agron blinked out of his own thoughts and turned to face him.

“Are those the papers?” Agron spoke, but stayed where he was, neither man closing the distance between them.

Nasir nodded, but made no move to show Agron the proof he thought… _he knew_ that he had against him.

“Well, can I see them?”  Agron’s eyes scanned down from Nasir’s face to his chest where the documents were still pressed. “The quicker we do this the quicker you’ll be rid of me, okay?”

“Okay,” Nasir replied. He didn’t miss the flash of hurt in Agron’s eyes though. “My dad gave these to me just before he died. He wanted me to get a lawyer, try to stop your dad and… and you, from getting any further with all of this, but then…”

“My dad died, yeah…” Agron said, not looking at Nasir.

He walked to the side table over where Nasir was standing and glanced at the papers now spread out over its surface. He didn’t have to look closely to recognise his father’s handwriting and signature. His stomach twisted painfully. Picking up a sheet of paper, Agron scanned the contents, his mind not believing what his eyes were seeing.

“I-I don’t understand… what the fuck was he doing,” Agron mumbled to himself, grabbing more and more of the documents and scanning through them more quickly. “He wouldn’t do this.”

“So these are real? My dad was right…” Nasir took a step back and puffed out a breath in disbelief.

“No… I don’t… I don’t know,” Agron said quickly. “This is my dad’s writing and his signature, but… he never wanted to take over Leopard’s Den. He admired your dad. I don’t understand.”

“What about these?” Nasir moved towards the table again and put his finger on top of the sharp lines of Agron’s name.

“That is my signature, but I didn’t sign these, I wouldn’t. It looks… it looks like my dad forged this. Here,” Agron pulled out his wallet, thrusting his driving licence at Nasir, “compare them. There are little differences, like the ‘A’, they aren’t exactly the same.”

Nasir frowned and looked at the card in his hand and then at one of the papers on the desk. The A did look rounder on the paper, subtle, but definitely cause for doubt.

“Nasir, I have never seen these before and I have no clue what the hell my dad was doing.”

Agron ran his hands through his hair and paced up and down. It didn’t make sense. His dad was trying to drive out Nasir’s father, shaft him and take over Leopard’s Den. Why? One sanctuary was hard enough to run let alone two.

“You really weren’t involved in this?” Nasir sat heavily on the edge of the sofa. Agron stopped pacing and edged closer to him.

“You know all those conferences, before you started avoiding me?” Agron smiled, but there was a sadness in it that made Nasir lower his eyes. “I always looked forward to seeing you there. You weren’t at all like all those boring business men and I thought we clicked, I was always myself, fuck I thought we were friends… No, I wasn’t involved in this. Please, will you give me a chance to show you that you can trust me?”

Nasir frowned. He wanted to, but he had been fed a steady stream of bad words and opinions about Agron’s family for a long time. He couldn’t let his guard down completely. Maybe if he accepted Agron’s offer to help with the cubs he could decide for himself about the man and protect himself at the same time.

“Please, Nasir. Let me help you out with your cheetahs and I’ll try and figure out what all this shit is,” Agron continued, waving his hand over the papers.

“Alright,” Nasir sighed. The word slipped out before he could really think about it, but the fact was, he needed Agron’s help.

“Really?” Agron grinned, his dimples confirming that it was genuine. “That’s great. I, uh, I had some things with me, notes and photos of the successes we’ve had at Mara, but they’re in my backpack and that’s in my car. I could go back and get it…”

“I, um, have some stuff to do actually,” Nasir interrupted.

“Oh, right, yeah okay,” Agron said, a little disappointed. “Could I come over tomorrow, I have some things to pick up in town? I could be here after lunch?”

Nasir bit his lip and nodded.

“Okay, well, I’ll get going then.” He headed for the door, but turned his head to look over his shoulder before he left. “We’ll figure this out. I promise.”

Nasir watched Agron leave, waited until he heard the click of the front door and then flopped face first onto the sofa.


	3. Chapter 3

Mira stepped into the study and wrinkled her nose. The air was speckled with swirling dust particles and it smelled stale.

No one had set foot in there since Agron’s father had died.

“Baby, what are you doing?” Mira coughed and checked her watch. It was early, but she doubted that Agron had even been to bed.

“Mira? Come over here.”

She crossed the large room until she came to a second door, open wide and leading to a small library. Agron was perched in a huge leather armchair, so big that it even made him look small, and he had a stack of thin books on the arm.

“What are you doing in here?” Mira couldn’t help repeating herself. Agron was her best friend and he was a volatile mix of emotions at the best of times. This thing with Nasir was making him crazy and Mira was starting to worry. “How did it go yesterday?”

“Um, not great, but I have a plan. It’s all in these, it has to be.”

Agron flipped through the pages of a smooth black leather book on his knee. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a diary.

“Agron, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

He looked up and smiled apologetically. It went some way towards easing Mira’s concern, but not enough.

“Sorry,” Agron said and patted the other arm of the chair which was free of and books. Mira perched on the edge and let Agron put his arm around her waist. “You know how I could never figure out what gave Nasir the idea that I was somehow trying to muscle him out of Leopard’s Den? Well, I finally found out why he thinks so.”

Mira arched an eyebrow. When Agron had first started complaining about hearing rumours about him and his father, he had dismissed them as idle gossip, typical when you have simultaneous businesses so close together. He had started to take them more seriously when Nasir started avoiding him. That had hurt him and he couldn’t get his head around the continued speculation that it was down to his father, and himself, apparently hell bent on getting their hands on Leopard’s Den. It was a stupid claim that had no merit, so Agron refused to believe that was the reason for Nasir’s coldness.

“He told you this when you went to see him?”

“Yeah, well, he said he had proof and he showed me all these papers that backed up his theory and my dad’s signature was all over them.”

“What?” Mira pulled away to turn on the arm of the chair so that she could look into Agron’s eyes. “Jack and Riv were having issues those last few months, but you’re dad wasn’t interested in Leopard’s Den like that.”

“That’s what I thought,” Agron said, throwing his hands up and then scrubbing them over his face. “It was his writing, Mira. My dad… he was doing something… bad. I just don’t understand what he was thinking. We couldn’t take over Leopard’s Den, it’s too much for us to run as well as Mara, and he never even mentioned this to me.”

“What are all these?” Mira reached over and took one of the books from the pile.

“I remembered that dad used to write in a journal so I thought if I read through them it might tell me what was going through his head.” Agron shook his head and frowned. “I just hope I find something that explains all of this.”

“What did Nasir say to you?”

“He was mad, he doesn’t trust me, but I understand why now. My signature was on the papers too. He thought I was making fun of him, becoming his friend so that I could, I dunno… get information from the inside.” Agron laughed bitterly. “I guess dad or someone forged my signature and when Nasir saw it… that’s when he started acting weird whenever he saw me.”

Mira smoothed a hand up and down Agron’s back. It was clear how much Agron liked Nasir and being able to read her friend as well as she could, it was clear that his feelings weren’t purely platonic.

“I’m going to prove my innocence, Mira, and my dad’s too. He wouldn’t do this.”

Agron clutched the diary in his hand and leaned his head against Mira’s neck.

“I’m guessing you told him that you weren’t involved?”

“Yeah,” Agron said. “It’s weird, but I think he actually believed me. I got the feeling that he didn’t know what to think so he just put his trust in his father. I’d probably do the same if I was in his shoes.”

“Hmm, I suppose.” Mira squeezed Agron closer. “Have you spoken to Duro?”

“Nah, I don’t want to tell him anything until I know the facts for sure, he’s busy and it’ll just make him want to come home. Anyway, I’m going back to Leopard’s Den later today and I might get some more answers.” Agron smiled at Mira’s curious expression. “Nasir agreed to let me see the cubs. I’ve spoken to Gannicus and he’s getting the triplets ready for transport if it comes to that. Whatever’s happened between our dads, we are both running sanctuaries and that should come first. I want to help those cubs.”

“I know you do, honey. I just want you to be careful. This isn’t just some misunderstanding and… I don’t think it’s true, but have you considered that maybe its Nasir doing this?”

Agron sat back and stared up at Mira. “What? No, I haven’t thought that at all.”

“I’m just saying it seems a little bit convenient that Mara is being portrayed as the bad guys. How do we know that Riv and Nasir weren’t trying to damage our reputation so much that we were driven out of business?”

“No,” Agron shook his head with certainty. “I know you’re looking out for me, but I _know_ Nasir and he isn’t like that.”

“Promise me you’ll be careful,” Mira continued. She didn’t argue with Agron, there was no point, but if he got hurt because of this she wouldn’t forgive herself if she didn’t try to prepare him.

“I promise,” Agron said, kissing her on the cheek as he stood up. He picked the books up from the arm of his chair and gave Mira a smile. “I’ll figure this out.”

Mira smiled at Agron until he disappeared through the door and then let her smile drop. She didn’t know what was going to happen, but something was telling her that before long she would be picking up some broken pieces of her friend.

***

Nasir had run out of ways to avoid Lucretia. She had left him alone for the entire evening after Agron left the sanctuary, but her curiosity was burning so much that Nasir swore that he could see flames coming out of her ears.

“Spill,” she said sternly, grimacing as Nasir shovelled another heap of elephant dung onto his shovel.

“Now? You want to talk about this now, when I’m doing the shit shift?”

“Put the damn shovel down and step over here to this clean area and tell me what happened.”

“Am I forgetting who the boss is around here?” Nasir sighed and pushed the shovel into the dirt, turning around and following Lucretia over to the fence.

“What the hell happened yesterday? I saw Agron leave not long he arrived and he looked pretty upset.”

“He did?” Nasir hopped up to perch on the top beam of the pen. “Um, he… he pretty much denied having any knowledge about his dad’s plan to get his hands on this place.”

“Really? Did you believe him?”

“I dunno, yeah, I suppose. I’m so confused though. I mean, my dad was so sure and he had proof, oh and get this, Agron saw the documents and said it _was_ his dad’s signature, but that his signature was forged somehow.”

“Forged by who, his dad?” Lucretia raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Hmm,” Nasir nodded. “I can’t trust him completely, but I just don’t feel like he’s lying to me… he doesn’t seem like that.”

“You don’t know him. Those conferences were just a glimpse of his life and you probably shouldn’t build your opinions of him on those meetings.”

“Lucretia, you were the one telling me to give Agron a chance.” Nasir jumped down onto the mud, sending a dusty cloud puffing up around his calves. “I have to find out what was going on between my dad and Agron’s dad and if Agron was involved or not. I don’t feel safe until I know the facts. Leopard’s Den is my life and I…”

Lucretia put a firm hand on Nasir’s shoulder, stopping him pacing and rambling.

“I’m not going back on what I said. I do think you should give him the benefit of the doubt as far as the takeover thing is concerned. What I meant was that maybe you should get to know him again. Forget what you thought about when you saw him at the conferences because, really honey, your dad didn’t have a good word to say about Agron and you listened to that. If it was some game that those two were playing and they dragged their sons into it then you both deserve the chance to start again. Clean slate and all that.”

Biting his lip Nasir nodded again. She was right. Those meetings had left him messed up with thoughts of Agron. His unashamed enthusiasm when talking about his animals, the way he had practically ignored all the other people in the room to give all his focus to him… and that smile, how could that be fake? But then his own father had dripped word after word into Nasir’s ear about how the young, good looking son of the only other wildlife sanctuary apart from their own from miles around was being used to get close to their family. Nasir was naïve, young, and his sexuality wasn’t a secret. Agron was the perfect ploy to get a foothold into Leopard’s Den by using Nasir to his family’s advantage.

“You’re going to give yourself a nosebleed, Nasir, stop thinking so hard.”

“I can’t help it. He’s going to be here soon and I don’t know how to act around him.”

“He’s coming back?” Lucretia smiled. There was something unreadable in the quirk of her lips.

“He wants to help with the cubs and I’m not really in any position to turn him down. I can’t get them to cooperate and they’re getting weaker every day.”

“When’s he getting here?”

“Sometime after lunch, why?” Nasir squinted, holding his hand up to his face to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun.

“Your boy’s keen it seems,” Lucretia whispered, squeezing Nasir’s shoulder and turning him around so that he could see where she was looking.

Agron was standing a short distance away, bouncing on his heels and trying to act nonchalant. Nasir’s stomach flipped at the sight of him. His black tank top stupidly tight, cargo pants that made his mile long legs seem even longer and that grazed over the perky swell of his ass just enough to show how firm and round it was beneath the fabric.

Fucking brilliant.

Lucretia chuckled as she abandoned Nasir and he watched as she spoke to Agron, probably telling him to go right on over.

“Morning,” Agron called as he strolled to stand next to Nasir, and seriously the guy had no sense of personal space, getting up good and close, close enough that Nasir could smell the citrus scent of shampoo that  he must have used earlier that morning. Nasir took a step back and ignored the way Agron ducked his head and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“You’re early.” Nasir cursed his own rudeness, but the short words just sort of spilled out before he could think.

“Um, yeah, the things I had to do this morning sort of went away and I, um, just… I can go and come back later? Sorry, little man, I’m just desperate to take a look at those cubs.”

Nasir could see it too. Agron was buzzing, his eyes bright and his body language fidgety.

“I’m nearly done here and then we can go see them.” Nasir didn’t like being caught off guard and he hadn’t expected the man to show up so soon.

“Cool, I’ll give you a hand.” Agron shrugged off his backpack and propped it up against the fence. “I’m a pro with a wheelbarrow.”

“It’s fine,” Nasir continued. He really didn’t want Agron working up a sweat and confusing him any more.

But Agron was already shifting what Nasir had cleared and grabbing another shovel to help. They worked quietly and it was done in no time at all. Nasir didn’t stare at Agron’s arms or the movement of his muscular back when he bent over. No he did not stare.

“Um, thanks,” Nasir said, wiping the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand.

“Yeah, it’s not anything I’ve not done before,” Agron smiled. “So, um… cheetahs? I have some things to show you and once I’ve seen them we can talk about what we can do with them.”

Nasir’s stomach flipped again. The word ‘we’ coming from Agron’s lips shouldn’t make him feel so lost and alone.  He pushed the feeling down and nodded.

Focus on the cheetahs and get through the next few hours. Simple right?

 

***

“So, I started to go through my dad’s study last night,” Agron said as they walked to the cheetah enclosure. To be honest, he hadn’t gotten any sleep because he had been searching for anything that would give him some explanation of his father’s actions. He was hurt that Nasir thought that he was involved, but he couldn’t really blame him. Riv Assam was one of Africa’s most celebrated conservationists and Nasir was now the head of the empire that he had built from the ground up. It was only fair that he would suspicious, maybe even afraid that he could lose the place and not live up to his name.

“Oh?” Nasir took out his keys and absently dangled them from his fingers. The cubs were still quarantined so they had to pass through a number of gates to get into the enclosure.

“I hadn’t got round to it since dad died, but I wanted to see if I could find anything, you know, that looked dodgy.”

Nasir led Agron through to the last pen where the cheetahs were kept.

“Let’s talk about this after, yeah? You said you had some things to show me.”

Agron sighed. Nasir was talking to him with the professional tone he had heard him use when he was showing guests around on the open day.

“Sure,” Agron said, nodding and opening his backpack. “I have my diary and photos, there’s a couple of graphs and vets notes too, and some articles I read from a sanctuary in Kenya who tried the same technique.”

Nasir took all of the things Agron had described from his hands. It was impressive, well researched and from a first glance looked like Agron had spent a lot of time on it. Before Nasir could say anything, Agron was walking slowly to the cages on the far side of the pen. The cubs were huddled together in the corner, thin and terrified, but at least with enough energy to hiss at Agron when he got close.

“Fuck, they’re worse than I was expecting.” Agron crouched down and glanced at the chart clipped to a clipboard attached to the cage. “These are the same meds we used. How are they eating?”

Nasir stepped closer, but didn’t get too near to the cage, not wanting to stress the cubs any more.

“Solids, just not enough. It’s like…” Nasir shook his head. Everything about the cubs was odd in a way he couldn’t put his finger on.

“Like what? What is it?” Agron stood, backing away from the cubs so they settled down again.

“It’s like they can’t eat. I got the vet to check for worms and the usual bacterial infections, but she found nothing and I don’t know what else to do. They’ve been eating little bits, but they won’t last much longer like this.”

“Can I see what you feed them?”

Nasir felt his guard go up. “Um, yeah, but it’s what we feed to all the cubs, fresh meat.”

“I’m not questioning you, little ma… Nasir.” Agron frowned after he had corrected himself, like it was difficult for him not to use the term of endearment. “If I’m gonna help I just need to see everything that you’ve been doing here and then we can get started on a plan of action. I’m sorry, we’ve never worked together before, so you should know I’m a bit OCD when it comes to my animals. Just like to know all the facts, you know?”

“I, um… yeah I get like that too. This is just new for me,” Nasir replied. Agron nodded and smiled, shaking Nasir to the core. “I’ll show you.”

Nasir turned away, holding Agron’s notes to his chest. Agron followed and tried not to stare too much at Nasir’s ass.

 


	4. Chapter 4

The midday sun was blazing in the sky when Agron and Nasir made their way from the food prep building and into the openess of the sanctuary.

  
“Hey, do you want half of this? I’m starved, I forgot to have breakfast and I never do that usually, but um, got stuff on my mind I guess. It’s chicken salad.”

  
Nasir looked at the triangular sandwich in Agron’s outstretched hand. It did look good and it was nearly lunchtime.

  
“Yeah, sure… thanks. Do you want a drink?” Nasir took the sandwich and nibbled the corner.

  
“I got that covered,” Agron said with a smile, sitting down on the grass outside the cheetah pen and pulling out some water. “You can share this too if you want. I don’t have any bad germs.”

  
“Oh, no thanks, I’m good.” Nasir shuffled his feet and looked out over the horizon. Whenever he was feeling anxious he would always just stop and remind himself about his surroundings and how lucky he was to be in a job that he loved and it helped to ground him.

  
“Nasir, can you sit? You’re giving me neck ache.” Agron was smiling and looking up at Nasir. “I wanted to show something anyway.”

  
It was odd, but Agron hadn’t mentioned the situation between them yet, his conversation sticking entirely to the problem cubs. Nasir was impressed by Agron’s obvious passion. He knew what he was doing, but Nasir was aware of that. Those days at the conferences, when Agron had talked and talked about what he was doing at Mara, it was like staring into the sun. Nasir was blinded by the man, by his enthusiasm and determination to help the wildlife of Africa and with all of Nasir’s other doubts, that hadn’t changed. He was still as passionate as ever. Nasir just wished he could see inside Agron’s head. It would be so much easier than trying to see if there was any hint of deception behind those stunning green eyes.  
Agron’s soft chuckling broke Nasir out of his faraway thoughts. He looked down to see that Agron was still smiling up at him and patting the grass beside his knee. Sighing, Nasir sat down. He couldn’t remember when he’d turned into someone so cowardly. This wasn’t him and he hated feeling like a petulant child, but his father’s words still echoed in his brain. Until he learned otherwise, around Agron, he was keeping his guard up.

  
“I wanted to show you some pics from when we released the cubs.” Agron rooted around in his bag until he found a paper envelope with five or six photos inside. He passed the first one to Nasir and pointed to two beautiful looking young cheetahs, their golden faces, dotted with inky black spots, close in shot.

“That’s Halo and her brother, Miki.”

  
“They look great,” Nasir said, looking closely at the photo and biting his lip. “How many cheetahs did you put them with?”

  
Agron flipped to the next photo. “Three,” he said, tapping his finger on the group of cheetahs sitting behind Halo and Miki. “My triplets. That big lad is Sam, next to him is his brother Igbo and next to him is their sister, Luna.”

  
The next photo in the set showed the elder animals wrestling with the youngsters and the next photo showed the young pair walking off into the wild. Agron was commenting on what a success it was, that the young cubs had learnt all that they could from their surrogate family, and how proud he was of his team for the work they’d put in.

  
“What’s the last photo of?” Nasir frowned, seeing that Agron was about to put the pictures away.

  
“Huh? Oh… it’s just…” He brought the photo to the front and glanced at Nasir. “Mara.”

  
Nasir stared at the group shot of all the staff at the sanctuary belonging to Agron. Happy faces looked back at him, smiling, laughing, kind of blurry people who looked like they had just achieved something truly special. At the centre of the group was Agron, taller and more prominent than everyone else and with the biggest grin of them all. He looked beautiful and so alive that it made Nasir’s chest tighten.

  
“I started to look through my dad’s journals,” Agron said suddenly, his voice strained. “I haven’t gotten very far yet, but I’m hoping to find some answers about what was going on between him and your dad. I’ll let you know if I find anything… I just wanted you to know that until I do, I’m going to be doing whatever I can for your cheetahs for as long as you need me.”

  
Agron bit into his sandwich and looked around casually, like he wasn’t expecting Nasir to respond. They sat and ate for a few more minutes, before they were interrupted by Donar calling out for Nasir.

  
“Sorry, boss, we’ve got some visitors at the front desk and they want to see the manager.”

  
“Shit, I forgot there was a private tour booked.” Nasir looked at Agron apologetically. “I have to go, but, um…”

  
“It’s fine. I’ll hang around if that's ok and we can talk about what we’re going to do next later.”

  
Nasir nodded and stood up, brushing some dry grass from the back of his legs.

  
"See you then... and thanks, for coming to help with the cubs. I appreciate it." Nasir nodded at Agron and smiled softly before walking away.

  
"You're drooling," Donar smirked, sitting down next to Agron. "Are you ever going to grow some balls and ask him on a date?"

  
"A date," Agron snorted, shaking his head incredulously. "I'm lucky he's talking to me, man."

  
"Hm," Donar mumbled, rummaging around in Agron's bag until he found a chocolate bar. "He's still pretty shaken since his dad, you know? Give it time."

  
Agron shrugged and finished his sandwich. "Do you... did you ever hear anything between Riv and my dad? Or maybe just Riv telling Nasir things?"

  
Donar chewed and frowned in thought. "You know I'm not into what goes on like that. I don't have time for gossip."

  
"No, I... I just thought... forget it."

  
"Look, if I knew of anything that would help, I'd tell you." Donar patted Agron's knee and stood up, cracking his back and rubbing the back of his neck.

  
"I know, thanks. Hey, still up for that drink this weekend?" Agron smiled, grateful to have at least one friend at Leopard's Den.

  
"Definitely. I'll try and get the boss to come too." Donar winked, chuckling to himself and left Agron sitting on the grass scowling.

  
***

  
"Nasir, hey" Agron said, waving and walking over to the large reception desk in the foyer of Leopard's Den's reception. "You finished with the tour?"

  
"Yeah, sorry you had to wait around. Did you have to go?"

  
"Nope, I was kind of hoping to stay all day and maybe see the cubs when they're fed again, if that's alright?" Agron scanned the leaflets in a rack on the counter and pulled out one for adoption gifts to support the centre.

  
"I was just coming to find you actually. I'm going to feed them now, try to anyway, and thought you might want to see what they're like." Nasir blinked. It was amazing how quickly he was begining to feel at ease around Agron, but then again, thinking back on all the times they'd met, he knew that Agron made it impossible not to get swept up in his friendly nature.

  
"Awesome. Hey, this is a really good idea. Do you get many people signing up for it?" Agron ran his fingers over the paper and folded the leaflet in half.

  
"Yeah, we do, um, mainly for kids or people who have family in other countries.

  
"S'a good idea. Can I fill one of these out?"

  
Nasir bit his lip, his face fighting to frown and smile at the same time.

  
"You want to adopt one of my animals? You?"

  
"For my brother."

  
"You want to adopt one of _my_ animals for your brother?" Nasir leaned his hip against the counter and crossed one foot over the other. "Why?"

  
"He'd like it." Agron crossed his arms over his chest. It was true, Duro would like it, but Agron couldn't stand the weirdness between him and Nasir and the only way he could think of getting the little man to open up to him was to be how he was whenever they had met before. His usual overbearing, goofy self. How could Nasir resist?

  
"He likes primate does my brother, probably cause he acts like one most of the time so I think I'm leaning towards the monkey options." Agron totally ignored Nasir's curiously amused glance and unfolded the leaflet again. "I got a look at the funny lookin baboon when I was wandering around and I think Duro would like him."

  
"Excuse you, Burt is not funny looking," Nasir scoffed.

  
"He is a bit funny looking," Agron said, smiling aa little wider as he picked up the pen and began filling out the details needed for the adoption.

  
"Would you feel bad if I told you that Burt had a stroke?"

  
Agron stopped writing and turned his head. Nasir looked totally serious. "Er... yeah I would feel realy bad. Sorry for calling him funny looking."

  
Nasir's lips quirked up and Agron slammed down his pen.

  
"You ass," Agron chuckled. "He didn't have a stroke. Not funny, dude."

  
"Well, that'll teach you for being so personal about my animals in future. It's not Burt's fault he was born looking like he's been hit in the face with a pan."

  
Agron laughed a little harder and turned back to continue filling in the form.

  
"Was this your idea... the adoption thing?" Agron wrote Duro's address in block capitals, a sudden pang of sadness hitting him in the heart.

  
"Yeah," Nasir shrugged.

  
Agron made a mental note of the was Nasir brushed off anything that drew atention to himself and what he did at Leopard's Den. From what he had gathered, after asking as many questions he could around the sanctuary while Nasir was away, the kid had some serious dreams for the expansion and success of the centre. He was driven and dermined, just like Agron. It was like they were two halves of the same whole.

  
"There," Agron said when he finished writing. He fished some money out of his pocket and slid it over to Nasir's waiting fingers.

  
"You actually want to adopt something?" Nasir picked up the leaflet and the money. He had thought that Agron was joking.

  
Agron just shook his head and stepped away from the counter. "Like I said, it's for my brother. He'll love this."

  
"How... how is Duro. You used to talk about him a lot, um, before." Nasir looked away awkwardly.

  
"Oh, he's great, yeah... he's in London right now, going to be there for another six months at least."

  
"You must miss him."

  
Agron nodded and was about to continue when Lucretia walked in from the back and interrupted him.

  
"Oh, I didn't realise you were still here, boys." She gave Nasir a look that Agron didn't understand and then sat down on the office chair behind the reception desk.

  
"I'm going to feed the cubs and, uh, Agron wanted to see what they're like. Shall we go?"

  
Nasir's manner had changed, his guard going up a little now that they weren't alone. Agron knew that Leucretia must have warned Nasir to be careful, but he hated that he was getting somewhere with Nasir and now he had lost that easy smile that suited him so well.

  
"Sure, lets go."

  
Agron strolled casually to the large open doors and stepped into the sunshine.

  
"Everything ok?" Lucretia asked Nasir who was lingering and chewing on his bottom lip.

  
"I guess. We're getting on alright and, I dunno, I forget sometimes about..."

  
"Don't forget it, Nasir. You have to be sure before you can trust him completely, ok?"

  
Nasir glanced over at Agron who was reading an information board with intent. Nasir couldn't help but smile. He looked down at the adoption leaflet and read the section where people were encouraged to include a message. Agron had written a few sentances to his brother.  
  
 _Duro, I saw this baboon and thought of you. Yes, I'm hanging out with baboons now cause you've abandoned me. Come home, dickwad! Love you, Agron._  
  
Nasir sighed. He would be careful, he had to be, but he couldn't carry on being suspicious every minute of every day.

  
"He's going to be here a lot over the next few weeks. I have to focus on the cubs and then... we'll see what happens. I'll be fine, Lucretia, don't worry."

  
Nasir pushed Agron's adoption form towards her and turned around to join Agron.

  
He didn't see the cool stare that Lucretia shot them both when their backs were turned.  
  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haven't written properly for so long. Bit nervous.

  
  
As soon as Agron spotted Donar his heart sank. He hadn’t really expected Nasir to join them for a few drinks, but… well the last few days, working together and making some progress with the cubs, Agron sort of thought that Nasir’s hostility had finally been put to one side and they could actually become friends. Maybe he was over thinking things. He just had to stop pining after Nasir. Stop wanting so damn badly.  
  
  
”Hey,” Agron said, when he finally made it through the crowd to where Donar was sitting. He forced a smile. He wanted to have a good night, god knows they were a fucking rarity, and just because Nasir wasn’t here didn’t mean he couldn’t, right?  
  
"He’s in the bathroom." Donar handed Agron a beer as he sat down. "Nasir, I mean."  
  
  
"He’s here?" Agron’s heart sped up. "How’d you manage that?"  
  
  
”I asked. He said yes. Simple. You should try it.”  
  
  
Agron snorted and gulped a mouthful of cool beer.  
  
  
"Has he, uh, said anything about me?"  
  
  
"Like what," Donar said, quirking an eyebrow.  
  
"Come on, man, stop busting my balls. Has he… has he said anything?”  
  
  
"Nothing that you’re hoping for." Donar sat forward in his seat and patted Agron’s arm. "For the record though, him socialising with someone from Mara is huge, so you’re doing good."  
  
  
Agron swallowed another mouthful of beer and shrugged. He was happy that things had changed, even if it was just a little, but Agron was hot headed and hot hearted and he wasn’t a man to give up on the things he loved.  
  
  
"I’m going to get another round, ok?"  
  
Agron stood up and moved around the table to weave his way through the growing crowd to the bar. He knew the owner of the place and was a regular so knew most of the bar staff too. When Chadara saw him approaching, her face lit up with a beautiful smile.  
  
  
"Hey, sexy, haven’t seen you in here for a while." Chadara hopped onto the bar and leaned over to kiss Agron on the cheek before wiping the cherry pink smudge of her lipstick from his face.  
  
  
"Busy, Cha." Agron wiped his cheek with the back of his hand. He liked Chadara, but not the way she groped him on every possible occasion she could. She wasn’t ever going to stop though. She’d told him several times.  
  
"Erm, give me five beers and some of those pretzel things, please."  
  
  
"Sure. Who you here with?" Chadara moved with a catlike grace behind the bar as she got Agron’s drinks.  
  
  
"Donar’s over there and Mira and Spartacus are meeting us in a bit and, um, Nasir’s here too… somewhere."  
  
Agron hadn’t seen Nasir come back yet. Maybe he’d decided against it and gone out the back way. It didn’t seem like something that Nasir would do though. Agron could see through his protective walls, it didn’t matter how high Nasir tried to raise them, Agron could see him. He could see his strength and his passion. Nasir had the same fire in his blood that Agron had.  
 He just needed to let go once in a while and Agron hoped that he was the man that would help him to do it.  
  
"I thought I saw Nasir," Chadara said as she loaded up a tray with bottles and snacks. "He’s over there talking with the new barman."  
  
  
"Huh?" Agron followed Chadara’s eyes to the end of the bar. Nasir was tucked next to a pillar and was smiling at a guy who was standing way too fucking close for Agron’s liking. "Who the fuck is he?"  
  
  
"Ah, Castus. Yet another man who stomps on my heart with his gayness. You should see him mix a cocktail, Agron, it’s like porn."  
  
  
Agron was barely listening. He was too busy watching Nasir, openly laughing and talking to the man, no hint of the caution Nasir usually held when he talked to Agron. If his eyes weren’t already green they would have taken on the hue of kryptonite at the sight of Nasir being chatted up.   
  
  
"Earth to Agron?" Chadara snapped her fingers in front of Agron’s face and he looked at her with a frown that bordered on a scowl. "I was saaaying… he’s one of the new barmen. And you owe me twelve fifty."  
  
  
"Oh," Agron mumbled pulling out his wallet and handing over the money.  
  
He was going to go over there. It was a bad idea, he knew that, but… fuck it, he was powerless against his own possessive nature.  
  
"Thanks."  
  
Agron took hold of the tray of bottles and walked confidently over to where Nasir was standing. He smiled and coughed to get Nasir’s attention. Strangely, instead of getting the brush off or a cold reception like he was expecting, Agron was graced with a smile and something else too. Relief? Happiness?  
  
  
”Agron, hey,” Nasir said, his breath coming out in a woosh.  
  
  
”Hey.” Agron smiled back. They looked at each other for a few seconds before Nasir blinked and remembered that Castus was at his side.   
  
  
"Oh, sorry," Nasir said quietly. "Castus this is my, my… this is Agron."  
  
  
Castus held out his hand towards Agron, a grin playing at his lips, obviously happy to hear that Nasir wasn’t romantically involved with Agron. Agron was stunned by the twinge of hurt he felt at hearing Nasir not being able to figure out at all what they were to each other, not even friends. Maybe he’d misread Nasir’s reaction a few minutes ago.  
  
Begrudgingly, Agron took Castus’ hand and squeezed it, hard, before letting go.  
  
  
"Nice to meet you." Castus turned his body so that he was cutting Agron out of the conversation, his attention fully aimed at Nasir. "I should get to work. Think about my offer, Nasir. You have my number."  
  
  
Nasir nodded and gave Castus a smile as he left.  
  
  
"I didn’t mean to interrupt," Agron said gruffly. "Just, you know, got you a drink."  
  
  
"You didn’t interrupt," Nasir said, laughing lightly. "Castus, um… he’s very forward."  
  
  
Agron gripped the tray in his hands hard enough to make his knuckles white. Luckily the bar was dark enough for it to go unnoticed.  
  
  
"Kind of looked like I interrupted," Agron muttered as they started to walk back towards their table.  
  
  
"He asked if I wanted to have dinner with him. I was a bit shocked I guess. Not used to strangers asking me on a date like that."  
  
  
Agron found it hard to believe that Nasir, beautiful, funny, caring, fucking amazing, perfect Nasir didn’t have men and women throwing themselves at his feet wherever he went.  
  
  
"I’m sure you’ll have a good time," Agron said with as much enthusiasm as he could.   
  
  
"I’m not…" Nasir didn't have the chance to finish his sentence before Agron was moving away from him, circling around Donar, and taking a seat.   
  
"Cheers boys," Donar said, raising his bottle towards them with a smile. "Something crawl up your ass, Agron?"  
  
"Shut up," Agron scowled, drinking his beer far too fast. "Hey Spartacus, Mira, over here!  
  
Nasir turned to where Agron was looking and saw that Agron’s friends had just arrived. This wasn’t how he’d hoped the night would start. Nasir wanted to show Agron that he wasn’t the tight-ass recluse that he had heard people describing him to be. He liked to have fun and drink, there just hadn’t been any time for him to do it. But, now Nasir couldn’t catch Agron’s eye at all. In fact, it looked like Agron was avoiding looking in Nasir’s direction all together.  
  
"You got the drinks in. Good boy. I knew you were good for something." Mira prodded Agron’s dimpled cheek before sitting down next to Nasir.  
  
"I laced yours with a sedative," Agron chuckled. His mood had lightened a little and Nasir was glad. Maybe the night wouldn’t be a total disaster.  
  
"Hey Nasir," Spartacus said, patting Donar on the shoulder and sitting across from Nasir. "How’s it going?"  
  
"Fine, yeah… good." Nasir felt a little intimidated by Spartacus. The man just carried a certain air about him that demanded respect.  
  
"Agron’s been chewing my ear off about Leopard’s Den all week. He’s got it into his head that you run your place better than we do."  
  
Nasir was shocked. He turned to look at Agron just in time to see him elbow Spartacus in the arm.  
  
"I never said that," Agron muttered. He looked at Nasir, his tongue flicking out to wet his bottom lip. "Just some things I’ve noticed… about how you do things differently to us and more efficient, that’s all."

  
"Like what?"

  
Agron rolled his eyes and nudged Spartacus again who just smiled patiently at his friend.

  
"Just, things, I dunno."

  
Mira sighed dramatically next to Agron.

  
"Your security and fencing systems are different to ours and because we've been having problems with ours at Mara, Agron has been mentioning that."

  
"Oh," Nasir replied, looking from Mira to Agron and then back again. He hadn't realised that Agron had been looking at that kind of thing as well as trying to help with the cubs. "What problems?"

  
Mira nudged Agron.

  
"Um, well, with the electric fencing we sometimes have sections that cut out and every now and again something runs off. I was, um, wondering what supplier you use."

  
Nasir smiled softly. He didn't think it was possible that Agron had been holding back during the time they had spent together, but even the outgoing, boistrous man seemed to have a shy side.

  
The rest of the group started chatting amongst themselves, maybe sensing Agron's discomfort.

  
"You should have just asked. It's never bothered you before," Nasir said, shuffling his chair closer to Agron's and picking up his beer.

  
"I was already being... well, me. I know what I'm like. Just didn't want to push my luck."

  
"I would have told you."

  
"Would you?" Agron's tone wasn't sharp, but there was a definite edge to it. "I still can't tell with you."

  
Nasir felt his cheeks heat up. He thought he had been getting better when he was around Agron, but it appeared that Agron was still walking on eggshells.

  
"When you come to Leapard's Den tomorrow I'll get Lucretia to go through some of the security features we use and she has the details of our suppliers." He drank a few moutfuls of the cool beer and picked at the lable on the bottle. "I'm trying my best you know. It's been a mad few weeks."

  
"Yeah," Agron said, some of the tension leaving his shoulders. "It has for me too. Shall we just... can we leave all of that and just have a good night. Talk about football or something?"

  
"Sure," Nasir replied with a smile. "We can do that."

  
***  
  
The air was cool against Nasir’s burning cheeks. He hadn’t drunk so much in, well forever, and it was getting to him. Part of him knew he shouldn’t be enjoying this so much, not until he knew for sure, not when his father’s reputation was still on the line. But, Agron…  
Nasir had never felt such a magnetic pull towards someone in his whole life. He was no virgin, but he hadn’t ever experienced anything that resembled the feeling he had for Agron. Ever since they had met all those years ago, Nasir had been overwhelmed by the intensity of his attraction to him. No one had ever made him feel the way tht Agron did.

  
For a long time he tried to work up the courage to ask Agron out for a coffee. Maybe meet up someplace other than in a conference room, but then his father had started telling him things about Agron that made his blood run cold. Things like how Nasir wasn't the first young, inexperienced man that Agron had targeted. That the only reason Agron had shown any interest in Nasir was to get information out of him. Nasir had been crushed, so crushed, that he had never thought to question his father. Why would he lie?

  
"Nasir?"

  
Agron’s voice penetrated the muffled hum of the people and music in the bar. He stepped onto the balcony, holding the door open for a couple who were going back inside and then moved to stand next to Nasir. He stood so close, like he couldn’t help himself, and Nasir could feel warmth flooding through Agron’s clothes.

  
"Are you going to hurl?"  
  
  
"I’m sorry," Nasir mumbled, shaking his head from side to side.  
  
  
"Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to see the result of one too many beers, little man. Duro can’t handle his booze very…"  
  
  
”No.” Nasir said, cutting Agron off and turning so that he was facing him. “I’m sorry for… how I treated you and how I’ve been treating you. I didn’t want to, I just… my dad and… I had to believe him, but I couldn’t really believe it. Am I making sense?”  
  
  
Agron smiled. “Not really. Come on, let’s sit down.”  
  
  
Nasir followed Agron over to some large outdoor seats surrounded by tikki lanterns, the warm orange glow creating a pool of light that seperated them from the rest of the world. He sat down next to Agron and saw how the man’s eyes widened at how close they were.  
  
  
"What I mean to say is… I really wanted to be friends with you. All those conferences… I always wanted to see you again and then when dad told me what was going on…"  
  
Nasir stopped and ducked his head.  
  
"He was my dad, Agron, and he had evidence. It’s not like I had much choice."  
  
  
”Nasir,” Agron began, but was stunned into silence by Nasir’s hand on his thigh.  
  
  
"Please, can I just tell you this?"  
  
  
Agron nodded slowly.  
  
  
"Almost every day, for the last six or so months that my dad was alive, he would tell me that Leopard’s Den was in danger, that Jack… and you, were trying to hurt us. Agron, I didn’t believe it, for so long, but eventually…"  
  
  
Nasir removed his hand from Agron’s leg like the touch had burned him. Standing up, he folded his arms around himself and paced up and down.  
  
  
"I don’t have any family, it’s always just been me and dad and when I met you I… there was a connection between us and that scared me. I know I was quiet or whatever,but, fuck Agron, I let myself trust you and then to be told that you were using me to get at my dad and Leopard’s Den…"  
  
  
"But, I didn’t," Agron said quickly. He stood up and took hold of Nasir’s shoulder, stopping the man from pacing anymore.  
  
  
"I know," Nasir said. He exhaled loudly and the weight of those words lifted from his shoulders.   
  
  
"You do?" Agron’s heart was beating wildly in his chest. The way Nasir was looking at him.  
  
  
"Yeah, I do. Agron…I, oh gods…"  
  
"What?" Agron stepped closer, imagining the way Nasir’s lips would feel if he just bent down and kissed him, sweet and bitter from the beer and shots of tequila.  
  
"I’m… I’m gonna puke…"  
  
Nasir pushed away from Agron and stumbled over to the edge of the balcony. He leaned forward so much that Agron grabbed the back of his shirt and held on to Nasir as he vomited onto the ground beneath them. Smoothing his hand up and down Nasir’s back Agron talked Nasir through it, he even moved the braid of hair that had fallen over Nasir’s shoulder to the centre of his back, holding it there with his fingers.  
  
"You ok, little man?" Agron couldn't hide the concern in his voice after Nasir had been quiet for a few minutes, the only sound coming from him were long deep breaths.  
  
Nasir nodded and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.  
  
"Sorry," he said slowly, voice still slurry and raw.  
  
"I think we should head home, huh? You should probably sleep this off." Agron tucked a loose strand of Nasir's hair behind his ear. "Sit out here a minute and get some air and I’ll call a taxi and tell the others we’re leaving."  
  
Nodding, Nasir let Agron walk him back over to the chairs and sitting down.

"Don't move alright, I'll be right back."

  
Agron turned back at the last minute and took off his denim shirt, draping it over Nasir's shoulders.

He made his way through the crowd of dancing bodies and found Donar talking to Chadara and looking more than a little cosy. Under normal circumstances Agron would have teased Donar, but he had more important things on his mind.

"Hey, um, Nasir's not feeling too good so I'm going to get him home. Can you tell Mira and Spartacus that I'm leaving? I just left him outside and I don't want to..."

"Agron, Agron," Donar said, holding up his hands to stop Agron from rambling any more. "I'll tell them, but I would go and get your boy. It looks like you're not the only one who wants to be his knight in shining armour."

Frowning, Agron turned his head back to the balcony doors. Castus was leading Nasir through them, his arm around Nasir's back, and a fucking smug smile on his face.

Without even looking back at Donar, Agron pushed his way back through the crowd. Nasir looked out of it, his head resting snugly on Castus' shoulder.

"Castus," Agron said through gritted teeth. "I was just taking Nasir home. Do you mind?"

Nasir's eyes fluttered open and although they were hazy, they found Agron's easily.

"I thought you'd gone home," he said sleepily.

"Is that what you told him?" Agron glared at Castus and put his arm over Nasir's shoulders, pulling his warm body towards him and holding him up. "Back the fuck off or you'll regret it."

Castus smirked. "I found him in the cold all alone, man. You were nowhere to be seen so I was just being a friend. You should be thanking me. It's not like he's your boyfriend."

Agron's face fell and he suddenly felt like a child. He'd acted like Nasir was his property or something. Still, Castus was a creep and there was no way he was apologising to him.

"Nasir, you ready to go?"

Nasir just closed his eyes and put his head on Agron's chest.

Agron ignored Castus and tightened his grip on Nasir's shoulders, walking him slowly outside, heading for the nearest taxi. He helped Nasir inside and then sat right next to him, letting Nasir lean against his side.

"I might throw up on you," Nasir mumbled. "I'm drunk I think... must be. Are you?"

Agron smiled. 

"No, I'm not. It's a good job, little man, or you might have had to sleep on a stool at the bar. You don't drink very often do you?"

Nasir shook his head and Agron gasped. It would be really helpful if Nasir wouldn't rub his cheek against his nipple.

"Don't," Nasir answered. "I should. Y-you... I wanted you to see me, not so stupid..." He snorted and then chuckled softly.

"What's funny?"

Nasir tipped his head back so that he could look into Agron's eyes.

"Me. You. It's all kinda funny. I hope it doesn't all go to shit... things always do though..."

Agron frowned and placed his hand on Nasir's cheek.

"We're not going to let things go to shit this time, Nasir. I promise."

"Promise," Nasir repeated, leaning into Agrons hand and then laying his head back down on Agron's chest. "Ok."

 

 

 

 

 

 


End file.
